Did you ever meet Studs? Maybe you or a relative were interviewed on his show, or you ran into him on one of his many jaunts through the city with his recording equipment. If you have a Studs story (or picture) to share, we'd love to hear from you! Please get in touch with Allison Schein, the Archive Manager, at aschein@wfmt.com. Thanks!

Studs was very interested in politics at all levels, from the grassroots movements in a neighborhood all the way up to the White House. This is reflected in the archives’ interviews with organizers, city councilmen, and authors and journalists writing about our presidents. As our nation prepares for our 58th inauguration ceremony for an American president, we’ve looked through the archives to find interviews about previous presidents and campaigns.

It comes as no surprise to most voters that candidates are vetted, groomed, and closely instructed on what to say and how to say it. In the television age a candidate’s image plays a vital role in the campaign, from the first Kennedy-Nixon debates in 1960,

to the relatively new conversations on how a female candidate is expected to appear and behave.

But how often does the voting public consider the fact that a candidate may be advertised and sold, just like, to use Studs’ simile, a can of Right Guard?

Author Joe McGinniss went behind the scenes with Richard Nixon’s “image advisers” during the 1968 campaign to find out just exactly what they did and why. (McGinniss makes it clear that Nixon was not the only candidate with a PR team, just the only candidate who would allow him to observe.) The book that resulted from McGinniss’s observations was The Selling of the President 1968. Continue reading →